Undercover Lovers
by Bassair
Summary: Skye and Ward are tapped to do a long-term mission undercover as a married couple in the suburbs, investigating disappearances. (Skyeward)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** The rating is, for now, T, but will probably increase after a while and will be changed as such. This fic can also be found on Archive of Our Own (/works/1069762).

* * *

**June**

It was early when Ward's knuckles rapped against the door of Skye's cubby, five AM according to the clock on the shelf. She was used to being woken up early by Ward, so she'd taken to getting up even _earlier_, so she'd be dressed and ready to go as soon as he called.

"Meeting!" Ward informed her and she clambered out of her cubby and eyed him.

"What's going on?" she asked, trailing after him all the way to the meeting room.

He ignored her as he moved inside and she sighed because she was used to it, leaning against the table.

"What's the situation?" Ward asked Coulson as soon as they were all settled.

"Undercover mission," said Coulson. "S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ wants two of us-"

"Ooohh, undercover?" Skye said excitedly as Ward pulled his _I'm-too-dignified-to-facepalm-but-if-I-wasn't-there'd-be-a-handprint-on-my-forehead_ face. "I want to do undercover!"

"-to pose as a married couple," Coulson finished, looking directly at Skye.

She got a little smaller. "Nyeh, you know what? I'm good right here. I'm much better uncovered."

Ward side-eyed her.

"I meant like... not under..." she whimpered. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything," Ward said.

"Fitz and I could do it," Jemma piped up. "We even have our own little language we share, don't we Fitz?!"

Leo squinted one eye closed and looked around at her. "Ix-nay on the telling them about our anguage-lay."

"Yeah, that's not yours," Ward pointed out, "it's Pig Latin."

"Silly, that's not our language!" Jemma exclaimed. "Ours is far more complex, with _seventy-eight_ letters and pictographs and a system of sounds and vowels that sound a bit like-"

"Simmons," Coulson said and she shut up. "They're looking for two who can pose as a _normal_ newlywed couple. Preferably including a specialist, but unfortunately most of the specialists are trained to work alone with leaves-"

"Me," said Ward, narrowing his eyes a little.

"Do you want me to go undercover with _him?_" Jemma said in abject horror. "Fitz is one thing but-"

"You're not who I was going to suggest," said Coulson.

Ward looked at May, who looked back at him, her face a silent and resolute _no_. When he looked back, Coulson was looking at Skye, who was mouthing wordlessly.

"No," Ward said instantly. "No way, no."

"For the first time, I have to say I agree with him on this one, AC," said Skye.

"You two," said Coulson. "It's a big opportunity to earn your stripes with S.H.I.E.L.D., Skye, and a good learning environment for training her, Ward."

Ward kept his eyes as narrow slits and didn't say a word.

"...I do want my stripes," Skye said.

Ward looked at her in utter disbelief, then looked back at Coulson. "Do I have to live with her?"

"Yes," said Coulson.

"Do we have to share a show-I mean bed?" Skye whimpered.

Ward eyed her.

"I meant bed," she repeated.

"That's not better!" Ward exclaimed.

"Do you wear pyjamas? You don't seem like a flannel pyjama-y type guy," Skye said. "We'll have to buy you a pair."

"You're assuming I'm going to say yes to this mission," Ward said.

"Of course you are!" Skye exclaimed. "You're being told to by your superior and you're all Mr-I-Do-As-I'm-Told."

"You'd be surprised," Ward said flatly.

May slunk over to Coulson's side. "...are you still sure this is a good idea?"

"Was I ever?" he replied, watching Ward and Skye bitching at each other.

"Before you two commit justifiable homicide," Coulson said, cutting them off.

"You think it'd be justifiable?" Skye said.

"Oh yeah, it'd be justifiable right now," said Ward flatly.

Coulson pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well, before you _do it_... You two should know the ins and outs of the operation. You'll be going undercover as a married couple in a suburban environment." He pulled up an image of a town on the holographic screen and Skye watched it curiously. "There are several houses for sale, so your first undercover assignment will be to check out the houses, pick and buy one. We'll be giving you a modest stipend, setting you up with jobs and providing you with a selection of objects to bring with you from your last apartment, as well as fake identities, marriage certificates and documentation."

"Okay, but what's the _mission_?" Ward said as Skye started looking at the houses with interest.

"Couples have been going missing," said Coulson. "S.H.I.E.L.D. have enough reason to believe there's something fishy going on that they want to send two agents and that's enough for us."

Ward nodded, ignoring Skye's excitement over the houses. "Anything else?"

"It's a long-term op," said Coulson. Ward's spine straightened out as he tensed up and Skye looked around at Coulson.

"Long-term?" she said.

"It means it could be anything from six months to years," said Ward, the tension in his body also evident in his voice.

"Years?" said Skye.

"The missing couples have all lived there from between six months to five years," said Coulson, watching the two of them. "If you take the mission, you'll be going _deep_ undercover. You'll be expected to live your covers to the full, so your covers will be tweaked versions of your real histories. We'll arrange dead drops and communication zones, and you'll have a bug-sweeper built into your phones which you'll need to run daily and every time you return home, but other than that you'll not be able to communicate with S.H.I.E.L.D. or us, at all. The houses we've tapped have basements, into which we'll build a gym for the two of you. Ward's cover will be as a fitness instructor at the nearby gym, and Skye will work technical support at a company a few miles away. You'll be expected to integrate into the community, make friends, throw dinner parties, attend barbeques and birthday parties, anything that comes up. You're to live the cover."

"I understand," said Ward, swallowing.

"I don't," Skye said. "How... much do we live it? If we're a married couple, am I signing on for prostitution here or-"

"Skye!" Ward yelped in abject horror.

"I felt I should ask! If there's a bug sweeper then there's going to be bugs and if there's bugs won't they be expecting to overhear certain..." She made an unfortunately explicit hand gesture. "..._things _between a _married couple?_"

Ward winced.

"Probably," said Coulson, "but that doesn't require actually doing it. You can fake the sounds. It can be quite a bonding exercise, actually."

May's lips quirked a tiny bit and Ward squinted at her as Coulson coughed into his hand. "Well that was too much information right there," said Skye.

"The fact is," said Coulson, "the op doesn't need to start for a week or two. I want you two to take some time, both alone and together, and consider the options. Consider if you really want to do this and if you're comfortable enough with each other to pull it off. Discuss it between yourselves. If you take the mission, we'll be your handlers and take care of all the other missions while you're gone. We'll take dead-drops to S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ ourselves, and we'll have you monitored at all times. You'll never be alone. We'll have your backs."

Ward nodded curtly and Skye looked at Coulson without a word.

"If you have any questions, you can come and ask me," he said, directly to her. "Any time."

"Thanks," she murmured.

"Let's leave them to talk," Coulson said and stepped away from the table, May moving with him. "Fitz. Simmons."

Jemma and Leo snapped their gaze up, blinked a few times and hurried out after the two.

Skye turned her gaze back to the houses. "I've never had a house," she said. "Well, that's not true. I had one for a month." She reached out and expanded one of the houses so she could take a closer look. "Where is this anyway... looks nice..."

"I don't think you have an accurate idea of what this is going to be like," Ward said. "You're not an agent and we're not even friends, and you want to go into a high-pressure undercover assignment where we pretend to be _married?_"

She looked around at him, meeting his eyes. "I'm your friend."

He swallowed but other than that his face didn't change. "We don't get along."

"We get along fine." She turned her gaze back to the hologram. "Do you wanna do this mission or what?"

"I do what I'm told," he said. "I think it needs doing and I'm the best man for the job. So, yes, I want to do this mission."

"Can you cope with being in close proximity of me for five years?" she asked, looking back at him.

"I can do my job," he replied.

She made a noise of amusement and closed the hologram. "I'm going to get Coulson to give me a run-down of the mission to read over and make a decision. I'll come talk to you if I need to ask any questions."

Ward nodded and looked at her. "Come to my bunk tonight."

She made a squeaky noise and eyed him. "Exsqueeze me?"

He rolled his eyes. "We need to be able to share a bed. I'm not getting into this op if the first thing we find out is we're incompatible sleepers. Share with me tonight. I'll even wear pyjamas." He raised an eyebrow at her.

She laughed just a little and nodded. "All right," she agreed. "What time do you turn in?"

"Ten," he said. "On the dot. Don't be late!" He pointed at her as he turned, then he walked away.

Skye looked at where the hologram of the house had once been, swallowed and walked away too.

* * *

She stepped over to Ward's bunk five minutes before ten and opened it up, peering inside. Hers was messy, her meagre possessions strewn all around, clothing too, but his was immaculate, with his stuff in the drawers under the bed and on the shelves at the end of it. His screen was turned off and the blind was pulled down, and she found herself realising just how _small_ the bed was, not a full king like they'd be sharing in the house, but more of a twin.

"Problem?" Ward said as he stepped up behind her.

"No," she retorted. "You want the side by the window or the side by the door?"

"Door," he said. She nodded and crawled onto the bed, ass in the air in her pink pyjamas, and sat down by the window, feet bare and pants riding halfway up her shapely calves. Ward squinted at her then sat down on the bed and pulled the cubby door closed.

And then he pulled his shirt off.

"Whoa! Hey! Dude! What're you doing?!" Skye yelped, turning her gaze away.

"We're going to be sharing a house," he said. "If you can't deal with a locker room situation..." He started unbuckling his pants.

"You promised pyjamas!" she all but wailed at him, eyes screwed closed.

"I change in my bunk," he said. "_You _arrived early. I didn't expect you to be early."

"I didn't want to let you down," she said, opening her eyes and focussing her gaze on the pillow. She could see him stripping down to his underwear in the corner of her eye.

"That makes a change," he replied, pulling on a t-shirt. "This okay by you?"

She faltered and looked around. He'd put on a fresh, black t-shirt, and he had some boxers on. "That's fine," she said. "Are these okay?" She gestured at her soft pink pyjama pants and vest.

"You're fine," he promised. He scooted up the bed and lay down on his back and she watched him for a moment before turning and lying down beside him. They both watched the ceiling without speaking, Skye counting the lines, lips mouthing the numbers without making a sound.

"What're you doing?" She turned her head and Ward had been watching her.

"I was just..." She gestured at the ceiling. "Counting."

"Counting... the ceiling?"

She shook her head. "There're grooves, lines, I dunno what they are, but... I count, to sleep, I... count."

He didn't take his eyes off her. "Most people count sheep."

"I can't count imaginary animals," she said. "Doesn't work for me. I have to have something physical to count or I can't sleep."

"How high do you count?" he asked.

"Not high," she said. "Twenty or thirty. There're fifty-five grooves up there, it's enough."

"Are you obsessive-compulsive?" he asked.

She laughed out loud. "Oh, god no!" she exclaimed. "Have you seen my bunk? Nooo. I'm not OCD at all, I just... it's just a habit to me, from St. Agnes."

He nodded understandingly and reached down, pulling the covers over them both. "If tonight isn't a bust," he said. "I'm okay with doing the mission if you are."

She looked back at the ceiling. "I am," she said. "I want to. I really do. I want to earn my stripes and I want to do a good thing and you need someone on your team for this and I want to be that person."

Ward nodded and glanced at the clock. "I'm going to sleep now," he said and rolled over, his back to her.

She didn't take her eyes off the ceiling, starting over her counting.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thank you everyone who favourited, followed and reviewed. Here's chapter 2!

** June**

Coulson eyed his two agents. "And you're both sure?" he said. "Because once you sign these papers there's no going back. I mean, there is, but HQ won't like it."

Skye nodded. "I'm sure," she said and looked at Ward, who shrugged.

"I won't back out," he promised.

Coulson picked up two files, leafing through both for a moment before handing them over, one to each agent. "Here you go," he said. "There are some gaps you'll need to fill in. Fitzsimmons will take some wedding photos of you in front of a green screen in the lab and Fitzsimmons will do some Photoshop magic so you look married. You'll start your cover next Wednesday when you'll view the house. Because the best cover to remember is one that's like your real life, we're using adjusted versions of your pasts."

Skye nodded and took the file, fingering it nervously. "Are you sure?" Coulson repeated.

"This is my sure face," she promised. "I'm sure."

"Okay then," agreed Coulson. "Dismissed."

Skye got to her feet, nose buried in the file and almost walking into the wall in the process as she tried to get out of Coulson's office. Ward put a gentle hand on her back and nudged her through the doorway and she glanced around, offering him a smile. "Thanks, sorry."

"It's okay." Ward returned her personal space to her, walking just a little away from her as they made their way towards their respective bunks.

"How am I meant to remember all this?" Skye mumbled, reading and rereading the first page of the file. "Can I take it with me?"

"Uh, no," said Ward. "If it's found, we'll have our cover blown."

She flicked through the pages, wrinkling up her nose. "Wait, I have to go on birth control if I'm not already?" She stared at him. "I thought I wasn't expected to do that stuff!"

"It's procedure," said Ward. "If you weren't on birth control we'd have to buy condoms and fake their use, otherwise people would question why you weren't getting pregnant."

She made a low noise and turned her face back to the folder. "Don't they have my medical records?"

Ward watched her for a moment, taking in all her expressions and the slight downward quirk of her lips, then shook his head. "We have some records for our doctor once we get there, but no," he said. "Anything we can get away with _not _revealing to the enemy is a plus."

"You think they have doctors on the inside?" she said weakly.

"We don't leave anything to chance," he said.

She sighed and looked back at the paper. "Mister and Missus... Serena and Isaac Chandler," she read off. "Could be worse."

"For you," he said.

She shot him a little smirk. "Not an Isaac?"

"Do I look like an Isaac?" he retorted.

"You _look_ like a Grant, but I'm guessing I need to forget that for a few years." Her stomach did a tiny unhappy flop at those words and she looked back at the folder.

"Hey." Ward stopped walking and put a hand on her shoulder, coaxing her to turn towards him. "You don't have to do this. You can earn your stripes another way. It's okay if it's too soon."

She narrowed her eyes a little. "Is that a soft and squishy centre you're exposing to me right now?" she enquired. "Because it _seems_ like one."

"I don't have a..." He took his hand back and folded his arms. "No."

"I was teasing," she said quickly and then shook her head. "I want to do this," she promised. "I'm nervous and I'm _terrified_, but... I felt that way towards this too, remember? And sometime the things you're terrified of... they turn out to be the best things you could possibly do. Rising Tide? Brought me here. _This?_ Best thing in my life. I got a family here. I wanted that so much and I was terrified of it and... it's good. _This_ is good, and I want to do this. What's a few years if it earns me stripes and trust with S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

He nodded. "So does that make me your brother or?" he said with a little grin, moving away.

"It smiiiiiiiiiles!" she gasped, scampering after him. "A _really_ annoying big brother. And Fitz is definitely an annoying _little_ brother. Jemma's mom and AC is dad."

"You really never had a family, did you?" He stopped at his bunk and she swallowed and shrugged.

"Did I get it that wrong?" she said.

"Eh, what do I know?" He opened the door. "Your bunk or mine? I don't mind if you need to get used to it more before..."

She shook her head. "I'm A-Okay," she promised. "I've shared a bed before and if we can cope with that tiny thing I'm sure we'll do _fine_ with a big one."

He nodded and sat on his bed. "See you in the morning."

She hovered for a moment, holding the file against her chest, then took a few steps back and turned, moving across the plane and slipping into her bunk.

* * *

She still had her file in her hands at breakfast, and put up a little sign on her phone that said _Do Not Disturb_, and she sat through a meeting reading the file over and over, no one stopping her.

After a little while, Jemma thrust a dress at her and smiled. "Your wedding dress!" she exclaimed when Skye looked at her in utter confusion. "For the photos! We need to do your hair, too!"

"I can... do my own hair," Skye said, eyeing the dress. "I thought we were being Photoshopped."

"It's much more effective if we dress you up first. We could Photoshop your heads onto someone else's wedding photo, but if we did that then they could stumble onto the photo on the internet and then boom! Everything would be busted and you wouldn't even _know!_"

"So, wedding dress," Skye agreed, nodding. "I'll... change into this now. Where do you need me?"

"Just the lab!" Jemma promised. "We're putting up a green background we can edit out!" She gave her one of the biggest smiles Skye had ever seen and Skye smiled back just a bit. "Makeup too, okay?! But nothing _too_ much."

"Okay, okay," said Skye. "I'll..."

Jemma skittered out before Skye could finish her thought and she sighed and traipsed back to her bunk, pulling the door closed.

She worked the dress out of the bag and peered at it for a moment. It was surprisingly simple, a lovely clean white with lace straps, the dress itself sleek with a slight mermaid tail at the end. It was slightly longer than Skye was tall, so she knew she'd have to lift the bottom when she walked, and there were white high heels in the bottom of the bag.

She slipped her bra down her shoulders so it became strapless and tugged her clothing off, jeans and then shirt, then she stood in front of the door of her cubby and eyed the dress on her bed.

Not exactly the situation she'd imagined putting one of these on in, now, was it?

She sighed and after combing and straightening and then curling the ends of her hair she wriggled into the dress, failing to zip it up. After a few minutes of wrestling with it, she poked her head out of the cubby. "Fitz! Leo! _Fitz!_"

Leo looked around from where he was fetching something from his own. "...yes?"

She waddled out of the bunk with one hand clutching the bottom of her dress and the other holding it up. Leo clapped a hand over his mouth and snickered a little. "Yeah, I know, I'm hil_arious_," Skye agreed and turned her back. "Wouldja zip me up please?"

Leo shuffled over. "Ah, yes! Yes. I wasn't laughing at you, I just... Dress. You don't expect a wedding on the Bus! Not that we're holding a wedding, I just never thought I'd see a wedding-Ah." He tugged the zip up and Skye looked at the ceiling, sighing. She liked Leo, she really did, but sometimes - just sometimes - she wanted to tell him to stop talking. Now was one of these times.

The zip reached between her shoulder blades and he smiled. "There we go! You look lovely, by the way!"

"Thanks," she said and turned back around. "I'll be there in a minute." She stepped back into her bunk and glanced at herself in her mirror. She looked like a bride.

"Blegh," she informed herself and headed to the lab.

* * *

It was a couple of minutes of wrestling with the tail of her dress later that she finally got the walk down, lifting the front just a little and entering the lab. Ward glanced up, blinked exactly three times, his eyes widening just a little, and Skye pulled a face at him. "Don't laugh."

"Robots don't laugh," he informed her. He was all dressed up in a suit and tie and although she'd seen him in a similar outfit before this time it was much more impressive somehow.

She took a breath and walked over to him. "Hi, so, let's... do this thing so I can get out of the dress, yeah?"

He nodded and looked at Jemma and Leo as they set up the webcam to take the shot, bickering quietly over the angle and the placement and _do you really think they'd get married at a church, change the background, Fitz!_

Skye sighed. "Guys, the location doesn't matter, it's not like we're _really_ getting married, I don't care about the venue."

"But the venue is part of the story!" Jemma exclaimed and Skye instantly regretted opening her mouth. "Usually _religious _people are the ones who have a church wedding, and a church wedding would mean at least one of you was some branch of Christianity. Do you go to church together? Do you have a cross necklace or a bible in your house? Skye, since you seem to be at least partially Asian in origin, you may have Buddhist, Taoist or even _Islamic_ religous affiliations! And that's just assumptions made from the dominant religions in China and isn't at all including the religions practiced in Japan, Korea or America, although your Asian strikes me more as Chinese than any other! It's important to play the part to the full, Skye, and get all the details agreed upon in advance!"

"Hotel," said Skye. "Just... go with a nicely decorated hotel that although has a real-world location if we're asked can be just about anywhere if glanced at."

Jemma and Leo exchanged glances and turned back to the computer and Skye looked at Ward. "Hotel's okay, yeah?"

He shrugged. "I don't care," he said.

"You've never thought about it?" she coaxed.

He met her eyes. "Not even once. Never have, never will."

"Okay!" Jemma exclaimed. "We're ready if you'd like to pose."

Skye nodded and turned her back to Ward, who... did nothing. "...put your arms around me."

"What?" he said.

"It's a wedding photo," she said, "put your robotic arms around me!"

"I don't see why I have to do that," he said. "Lots of married couples take a photo with a few feet of space between them."

"Yes, and then they get divorced the next year because he was a gay Australian trying to get a Visa. Arms. Around me."

He didn't move.

"How are we supposed to have a wedding night if you can't even touch me?" she demanded, looking around at him. "Most newly wedded couples have had sex _numerous_ times before their wedding these days, and meanwhile _you're _acting like someone from the eighteen hundreds, except! They used to touch on their wedding!"

"We're not going to _have_ a wedding night!" he exclaimed.

"I'm playing the part so we have to pretend we're going to," she informed him. "Because playing the part is _important_." She held out her hand. "At least hold my hand, you giant great stick-in-the-mud."

He eyed her for a moment then took her hand. His was gentle and soft except for his fingertips, the callouses on which rubbed against her hand as he held it. "Happy?"

"Ecstatic." She stepped in front of him a little, rested her head against his shoulder with her spine against his chest and smiled at the camera.

Ward put on a smile too. _Click. Click. Click. Click._

"I think we have some nice ones, don't you, Fitz?" Jemma said.

"At least one will work, yes," he agreed.

"Oh thank _god_ for that," Skye breathed and drew away, Ward retracting his hand like hers had infected him with a plague of some sort.

"You forgot something." Coulson walked into the room and Skye looked around, following the sound of his voice. "Catch." He tossed three small and shiny items at Ward, one after the other, and the specialist caught them in his hand.

"Oh," he said.

Skye peered past his arm at the pretty engagement ring and the two little gold bands in his hand and wrinkled her nose up.

Ward turned. "Hand."

She blinked rapidly at him. "Five seconds ago you were terrified of touching me."

"Sometimes we have to do things that scare us," he informed her, eyes sparkling, and it occurred to her that he was _teasing_. Like _humans_ did. "And I'm playing the part. Hand."

She offered out her left hand and Ward smiled just a little as he slipped the engagement ring onto her left ring finger, then followed it with the gold wedding band. Skye never took her eyes off the two rings, the engagement ring was a simple but elegant and beautiful diamond solitaire ring and the gold band was slightly tarnished, probably deliberately. Ward's fingers were gentle as they put the ring on hers, and she almost managed to not notice the little _click click click_ as Jemma and Leo photographed the scene for more photos.

"Let me do yours," Skye murmured, quiet enough only he could hear in case he wanted to just say no without being told off by Coulson or laughed at by Jemma or Leo. He offered out the gold band without a word, but there was a glint in his eye that she translated to, she hoped, mean that he was grateful for it.

She took his hand in hers, lifting it and trying to put the ring on his finger with the same grace and gentleness he'd exhibited with her. She wiggled it past his knuckle, idly noting that S.H.I.E.L.D. knew both their ring sizes, and then smiled up at him.

"Ow," he informed her, but she could tell he was teasing and she laughed a little.

"I thought you masked your pain in front of beautiful women," she teased right back.

He winced. "That... was a tactical... no."

She turned her back, his hand still in hers, and twisted his arms around her. "There," she said. "Comfier than I imagined. I thought it'd be like leaning against a rock."

Jemma started clicking more photos and Ward laced his fingers with Skye's. "Nah, I'm not that hard." He paused, faltering, and she started laughing, doubling over.

He made some little noises of amusement and she looked around at him, grinning with her fingers still twined with his. "Oh really!"

_Click, click, click, click_.

"I didn't mean that the way it came out," he informed her, but his lips were quirking in a tiny smirk. "I meant it like... Like..."

"Like you're soft?" she tried.

"No!"

"Like your muscles are soft?"

"No."

"...like you're a softie?"

"_Skye_."

She pursed her lips to keep from laughing more and looked around at Jemma with a smile on her face.

_Click_.

"I think we're done!" Jemma exclaimed happily. "You can both change now."

"Oh thank god," Skye said yet again and for a second she didn't release Ward's hand, then she tugged her fingers free of his gentle grip and took a few steps away from him. Her feet tangled up in the bottom of the dress and she stumbled with a squeak, and he instantly caught her in his arms.

_Click_.

She squinted up at him. "...wanna carry your bride back to her bunk so she doesn't get herself killed or break her nose?"

"Not really," he replied.

She pouted a little and let him straighten her up and then release her. "Jeans, jeans definitely jeans," she said and lifted her skirts to her calves, trotting away.

Ward tilted his head just a little and watched her go.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Just a quick note: There will rarely if ever be updates of this at the weekend. I can't focus when my dad is here and he gets home Friday night and leaves Sunday night. This week he's off work sick, so updates will definitely be slower.

Thank you all for your continued interest and love. You keep me writing.

**June**

Three days of Skye burying her nose in the file passed and then finally Ward sat by her and said, "Let me teach you some memory tricks."

She peered up at him. "You waited three days... _three whole days_... to offer that...?"

"I thought I'd give you chance to find your own," he said. "Do you want my help or not?"

She huffed at him and nodded, not looking back at the file. "So far the most I've got is... I'm Serena Chandler, married to Isaac Chandler. I'm twenty-six years old and I work technical support. I have some other random facts but I can't... memorise them. I tried making them into a song but that didn't go well."

"Never use anything musical for remembering a cover story," Ward warned.

"Why?" Skye replied, frowning at him.

"Earworms," he said and she could tell he was super-serious because his serious face looked different from his super-serious face. "You learn things from a song and you tend to learn it because it gets stuck in your head. Singing your cover story? Not the best idea."

She nodded as she considered that. "That makes sense."

He smiled at her just a little and nodded back. "Some of the tricks I use depend on if I'm working alone or with someone, or at least preparing with someone. With someone, I like to use the twenty-questions trick. We each ask each other questions about our cover story and answer them then check we're right. We note which questions we get wrong and then focus on those.

"Alone, I create acronyms and memorise words made from sentences," he continued. "But I've always been good at remembering that way. What're you good at remembering?"

She considered that for a moment. "Code. Web addresses. I've never even used bookmarks..."

"So turn it into code," he said. "Memorise the web address of the high school you attended."

She picked up the notepad she'd been using to make notes and started jotting down code, almost like she was planning to build a profile on a website. Ward watched her with interest, and he was silent for the entire twenty minutes she worked. "Okay hit me."

"Hit you?" he said.

"Twenty questions!" she said. "Go!"

He considered for a moment. "Middle name?"

"Lisa," she said. "Serena Lisa, rhymes too. Yours?"

"I don't have one," he said. "Age?"

"Twenty-six," she said. "Yours?"

"Thirty-one," he replied. "How did we meet?"

"Single's bar," she said, "we hit it off right away due to our mutual love of reading."

"Hm, even I might buy that one," he mused.

"You caught my interest when you told me you had a list of a hundred books your teacher gave you to read," she said. "I said I had a kindle bucket list, much more than a hundred, that I kept adding to. We agreed to exchange some recommendations."

"I like it," he said. "Simple but cute."

"What was our first date?" she said.

He considered for a moment. "I took you to a library," he said. "We sat at the back and read, and after a while I put my arm around you."

"The introvert's movie," she said with a grin. "We should exchange more notes over this, so we don't slip up."

"Agreed."

Over the next few minutes they worked their way through the base questions, and Skye managed to remember all of them. "Nice work," Ward said.

"I know my trick now," she said with a grin.

"We need to keep going through them though," he said, "because you mouthed your code under your breath every time you answered a question, which is fine but... revealing. We also need to agree on a story about children."

She flicked her gaze up to him. "Oh?"

"Most married couples get asked when they're having kids," he said. "Why aren't we trying?"

She shrugged and played with the corner of her paper. "I'm focussed on my career? You... have hang-ups from your childhood? Just don't want them? Not ready yet? Want to be financially stable? I can't have children?"

"Not the last one, we'd need medical evidence to back that up on your file," he said and she nodded, watching the paper. "We've discussed it and we're not quite ready for that kind of commitment yet."

"Agreed." She added that to her code quietly. "Ever thought about it? Having kids?"

"No."

"Why?" She looked up at him.

"I'd need someone to have kids with," he said, looking back at her. "And I don't do that."

"We both know you do that." Skye glanced across at May where she was talking to Coulson. "She okay with this?"

"I don't do _relationships_," Ward said. "She doesn't get a say because we're not in a relationship. We had a brief-"

"Fling," Skye supplied.

"_Release of tension_," Ward said, eyeing her. "With no commitments or-"

"Relationshippiness."

"Would you stop?" Ward scowled at her. "We're nothing, she's nothing, it's over, done, and we're not talking about it."

"If it's over it began," Skye pointed out.

"Then it's-!" Ward broke himself off, huffing. "For a moment there, we were actually getting along."

"Yeah, I decided I should fix that." Skye chewed on the end of her pen.

"She's fine with it," Ward said after a moment. "The job always comes first, and May and I have no feelings clouding our vision."

"Point received loud and clear," Skye said.

"We need to discuss procedure." Skye twisted around and Coulson was standing right there.

"Creepy, AC, very creepy," Skye praised. "Excellent level of creepiness."

"Thank you, Skye," was Coulson's reply. "Time to go."

* * *

The house they were checking out was lovely, with three bedrooms, a garage and a basement, and a cute little kitchenette attached to the living room. "This is beautiful," Skye said honestly as they trailed inside the house after the estate agent. She reached out, slipping her hand into Ward's, and he immediately tugged his away, out of her grip.

She glanced at him. "Don't you think it's beautiful, honey?"

"It's lovely." He somehow managed to sound like he was smiling, even though he wasn't, and then smiled when the estate agent looked around.

"The last owners painted it this colour," the agent said, referring to the hideous green walls and the tacky red carpet. "But I'm sure you two can spruce it up with your own personal touch in no time at all! Which _I_ personally think is a delightful thing for a new couple do to together! A bonding exercise!"

"I don't know, red and green... it's like _Christmas!_" Skye joked and Ward choked on a laugh. She glanced at him, trying to figure out if he was really laughing or if he was faking it, and smiled.

The agent laughed and nodded. "Well, if that's what you like," she said. "Would you like to see the rest of the house?"

Skye nodded and when the agent turned away she tried to take Ward's hand again. He, yet again, evaded her, and trotted after the agent with a chirp of, "I'd like to see the basement. I want to put a gym in."

* * *

After putting an offer in for the house, Skye and Ward returned to the Bus and Skye frowned, trailing after him until she had him alone by his bunk. "Ward."

He looked around. "Yes?"

"What was that back there?" she demanded.

He blinked at her and she sighed because he was honestly confused, so she moved closer. "I tried to hold your hand and you wouldn't let me. _Twice_."

"Oh," he said and shrugged. No explanation.

She watched him for a moment. "Kiss me."

"What?" He looked as stunned as she felt.

"Kiss me," she repeated. "Married couples? They kiss. They hold hands. They snuggle up and they hold each other. They hold hands in front of and around people, they kiss in front of their neighbours and they touch. You can't even hold my hand, what're you going to do the first time you need to kiss me to sell it?"

"...not kiss you," he said. "Some people don't PDA."

"And when we're being monitored and we need them to know we're serious?" she demanded.

"I'll kiss you then," he decided.

She stared at him. "First kisses _look like first kisses_," she said. "There's a certain _thing_ about them. It's going to be extra awkward since we've never done it before and you're clearly about as attracted to me as you are to a sea slug. So kiss me if you don't want to blow our cover."

"I won't blow our cover," he promised. "But I'm not kissing you."

"You're going to have to at some point," she said.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." He opened the door to his bunk, slid inside, and closed it in her face.

"You're a jerk," she informed the door and walked away.

* * *

"Once you get out of this car you're on your own," said May as she pulled the car up by another. "This is your car and these are your phones." May offered out two smartphones. "The weather app is always wrong and says it's cloudy, if it says it's sunny your house has been bugged. Do you remember the procedure?"

Skye nodded, playing with her rings as she took the phone off May and Ward did she same. They'd spent a week going over and over their cover stories and over and over the procedure for dead drops and for living their cover. She knew it so well she could quote it in Coulson's voice if she wanted to. But whereas before she'd been confident they could do it, now all she could hear in her head was _I'm not kissing you_.

He'd sworn he wouldn't blow their cover, but now she was sure he would. Him, of all the people. Wasn't this backwards?

"We know the procedure," Ward swore as he pocketed his phone. Skye followed suit with her own and picked her bag up from the foot well as Ward got out of the car.

"Good luck," May offered. Skye smiled at her, just a bit, weak and unhappy, and May frowned. "It's not too late."

"I want to do this," Skye said. "It's him that doesn't."

May glanced at Ward in her mirror and looked at Skye. "Once he's in his cover, he'll be fine," she promised her. "So will you. He'll warm up."

Skye opened her mouth then pulled a face. "You'd know about that," she teased.

May rolled her eyes. "Get out."

Skye skittered out of the car and shut the door behind her as Ward got into the second car, starting it up. "Ready?" she checked as she got in the passenger side.

He nodded. "Ready," he agreed and pulled the car out.

She watched him as he drove, watching his hands on the steering wheel and the concentration on his face. "You okay?"

"I'm fine."

She sighed and looked out of her window. "And chatty."

"What do you want me to say?" he said.

"Reassure me," she replied. "This is my first deep-cover op, I've never done anything like this before. Reassure me I'm not making a huge mistake. Reassure me you're not going to get us both killed!"

"I'm not going to get us both killed," he said, his jaw tensing, glancing in the mirror.

"You say it, but I don't believe it right now," Skye said, watching him. "You won't hold my hand, you won't kiss me. What happens when you have to say you love me?"

He didn't reply.

"Fine, how about this," she said. "When you say you love me, what you're really saying is we need to do some training. And when I say I love you? I'm telling you you're an ass."

He made a low noise of amusement. "Fine."

She looked back out of the window. "I love you," she informed him.

He snorted and looked at her. "I don't have a fitting response to that code."

"Not sorry," she replied.

He looked back at the road and kept driving without another word.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Feel free to skip this if you don't wanna know why this chapter took so long and how long it'll be until the next, but here's the story...

When my dad's home he's very distracting, and my PC (which is a very heavy gaming rig) is right next to his laptop that he never moves. Because of this, the amount of writing I can get done zips down to about 3% of what it is during the week (he leaves on a Sunday night, gets back on a Friday night).

I had planned to put out a couple of chapters a week until the fic was finished, taking breaks at the weekend to maybe edit my novel, and then my dad took a week off work because he was sick.

That was fine, a week was fine... And then _I_ got sick. I'm already sick (I suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) so sick on top of sick is difficult for me to cope with. I got no writing done because I was either in bed or half-dead most of the time, so this week (16-20th) I've _still _been trying to recover and writing hasn't exactly come easily, but here we are!

I'm gonna try and get another chapter out before the weekend and at least one over Christmas, but updates should get back to normal around the 7th. Thanks for still giving kudos, reviewing and encouraging, guys!

* * *

**June**

The boxes in the back of the car were a mixture of Skye and Ward's things, plus cover story items, including old possessions, new possessions and albums of photos. They'd taken most of the photos over the period between the wedding shots and the ride to the house, and Skye had been horrified when she'd been put in a wig with bangs and Jemma had smiled and said, "You need to look younger for this one!"

_Younger_. Skye sighed and watched out of the window as Ward drove. As it stood now, she couldn't _feel _younger if she tried. She felt like just a kid. She'd never done this, never lived with a guy - let alone married one - or even had a steady relationship. There'd been Miles but she'd lived in her van and he'd lived in his apartment and their sleepovers were just that. She didn't live in his home and he didn't live in hers. She'd never even had an apartment, but now she was getting a house?

She pulled the cap off her bottle of water and drank a few mouthfuls as she watched the road go by. "Anything I should know about you?" she asked after a moment.

"What?" Ward said.

She glanced around at him. "Like... funny sleeping quirks or allergies I should avoid if I try and cook or something like that."

He didn't reply, watching the road, and she looked away again, thinking back to when he'd been on truth serum, thinking about all the things she'd've asked him if she'd known him better just then. Except... she wouldn't. If she knew him as well back then as she did now, she simply wouldn't have asked him a thing beyond what she needed for the mission. She'd've known that he was a private person, that he opened up in his own time.

"Latex."

She looked back at him. "What?"

"I'm allergic to latex," he grumbled. "It's not a big allergy but it makes me _itchy_." He flexed his neck and she watched him.

"Oh, well, now I know why you got me on the pill," she joked and he didn't reply except to give her a sideways scowl. "That was a joke, Mister Grumpy Pants."

"I'm only Grumpy Pants when I'm itchy," he replied and she stared at him.

"Was that a joke?" she said excitedly, sitting up and peering at him. "Did you just _joke?_"

He kept his gaze focussed on the road. "I'm not at liberty to answer that."

"Was that _two?!_" she squealed. "Did you just make two jokes?! Is this a car thing?! Are you only capable of joking if you're in a car?!"

He eyed her and didn't speak.

"You're only not talking because you're scared you'll joke again," she said, settling back down against her seat. "I'll remember the latex allergy. No latex gloves or anything like that."

"Why would you have latex gloves?" he said.

"Cleaning," she replied. "Cleaning bathrooms or blood stains."

He eyed her some more. "Blood stains?"

"Yeah, Ward, girl parts aren't like boy parts," she said.

He pulled a face and looked back at the road. "I know that."

"I may have to check and make sure with May," she said.

His _I-Would-Be-Facepalming-If-I-Didn't-Have-Dignity_ expression crossed his face again and he tensed his jaw.

"You know, it wouldn't hurt you to relax sometimes," she said, watching him. "Smile, laugh, crack jokes, dance around when your favourite song comes onto the radio."

"I don't have a favourite song," he replied.

She squinted at him. "Everyone has a favourite song, even if it's just a song they don't hate."

"I don't," he said as he pulled the car onto their new street.

Skye swallowed, looking around. The houses were all clumped together but not too close, and their house was detached from all the others. She could see a couple outside a house across the street from theirs, their kids playing on the grass, and a blonde woman unloading her shopping, and she went through the list in her head. "Leah and Eddie Oaken and their two sons, James and Peter," she murmured and Ward followed her gaze as he drove, "and... the blonde is Alexandra Peterson. She has a seventeen year old daughter, Ella."

"I memorised the record too," Ward said.

"I know," she said. "I'm testing myself. Did I get it right?"

"Yeah, but you need to remember you don't know them," he said.

"I _don't_ know them," she said. "Just their facts." She smiled just a little at the couple as they drove past and then looked back at Ward. "How do we make friends?"

"Little neighbourhood like this?" he said. "Friends'll make us."

Skye nodded as though she had any experience whatsoever with this and undid her seatbelt as Ward pulled into the driveway. "We should decorate."

"_What?_" He looked around at her.

"The house. The colours are horrible, we should decorate..." Skye said. "It'd make us look serious, and it could be fun. What colour would you paint the walls?"

He eyed her. "I wouldn't."

She sighed. "Fine," she said flatly and got out of the car, smiling at the couple across the road.

"Welcome to the neighbourhood!" the lady, Leah, shouted.

"Thanks!" Skye replied happily.

"I'll unload the car while you open up the house, okay?" Ward said and his lips pressed to her hair, arm around her skinny body. She closed her eyes for a second, smiling at the moment of affection she had never been used to, and then nodded as he moved away, hunting through her purse to find her keys.

When she looked up, Leah had crossed the road. "Hi, I just _had _to come greet you before you scampered on in there!"

Skye smiled a little. "Oh yeah?"

"Yes, absolutely! I'm Leah, Leah Oaken, I live right over there with my husband Eddie and my two boys!" Leah grinned at her and Skye smiled back.

"I'm Serena, this is my husband Isaac." She gestured at Ward who shot them a smile as he unloaded the boxes from the car, and she wondered if Ward smiling so freely would ever stop being weird.

"It's an absolute pleasure to meet you and welcome you to our little neighbourhood," Leah said, beaming at her. "I was so surprised when I saw someone had bought that house! I've seen the interior, after all, it's like Christmas in there, but nowhere near as pleasant!"

Skye laughed a little. "That's exactly what I said to Isaac," she said, the name feeling strange on her tongue when her mind said _Ward_.

"Let me get you the address of a lovely little shop," Leah said, "they do lovely paints and wallpapers and you can either choose them yourself for your decorator or you and your husband can have a lovely time painting over that hideousness!"

"That'd be fan_tastic_," Skye said with a genuine smile. "Wouldn't it, honey?" She looked over her shoulder at Ward and he gave her a straight-lipped smile.

"Not quite the word I'd use," he said as he started carrying boxes over to the front door.

"Ignore him," Leah coaxed, "he's just like my Eddie. I swear, the only room he has interest in decorating is the bedroom! And even then he doesn't choose colours."

Skye laughed again as Ward came to stand by her side. "This one doesn't decorate, do you?"

He eyed her. "Too many chemical fumes."

"See?" Skye said. "All the excuses in the world."

"Honestly I can't get Eddie interested in _any_ of this stuff," Leah said. "He won't choose paint swatches, won't decorate. The only interest he had in painting the nursery was the having a baby part! And it wasn't the having he was interested in, if you know what I mean!"

Skye snickered a little. "I can imagine," she said.

"Honestly we wouldn't have two children if I didn't tell him it was trying for a baby or _nothing_," she said.

"I'll have to remember that trick for this one eventually!" Skye said and let the back of her hand smack very lightly into Ward's abdomen.

"You better not," he said in response.

Skye grinned at Leah who laughed and glanced over her shoulder as one of her boys called for her. "Anyway! I better go but I'm sure I'll see you later! It was lovely meeting you, honestly!"

"You too!" Skye said as Leah jogged across the street. She looked at Ward.

"I think she's evil," he mused, watching her go. "We should keep an eye on her."

"I think she's lovely, _honestly_," Skye said with just a little hint of mockery. "I made a friend. Be happy for me, honey!"

"Honey." He eyed her.

"Your name is weird," she grumbled. "Honey sounds better." She pushed past him and unlocked the front door of the house, stepping inside. "Weather?"

He checked his phone in the doorway. "Cloudy," he said.

"You need a new app," Skye said with a grin.

"Maybe I'll get one in a few years." He picked up one of the bigger boxes and hauled it inside and Skye scooted outside, collecting another and following after him. "You don't have to do that, I can do it," he offered over his shoulder.

"No way, I've never moved into a place before," she said. "I want the full experience!" She put the box down at the bottom of the stairs when it got too heavy and groaned. "Okay, ow, ow, the full experience hurts, ow..." She straightened out her back, hand on her spine and whimpered in pain.

"Here." Ward stepped up behind her and she stilled, like moving would scare him away like a wild deer. His one hand settled on her shoulder and the other on the side of her lower back and she closed her eyes as his hands expertly soothed and eased the muscle she'd pulled carrying more than she was able. "Better?"

She smiled just a little and nodded. "Yeah, thanks. Where'd you learn to do that?"

He shrugged. "Nowhere special," he said and his hands moved away, leaving her back cold and lonely.

"Which boxes go upstairs?" he asked as she turned back around.

"Uhh, that one and that one," she said, gesturing at the biggest and a small one. "Bedroom and bathroom. The rest are kitchen and just odds and ends."

"I'll take these up," he said, picking up one of the biggest boxes like it weighed nothing. "Can you move the smaller ones in?"

She watched him for a moment because damn if that wasn't an attractive sight, even if it _was_ Ward. "You listening to me?" he said.

She blinked a few times and then nodded, swinging her arms as she moved towards the front door. "In! Yes, I can do the in thing. Bringing them in."

He squinted at her in suspicion for a moment then disappeared upstairs.

She eyed one of the boxes as it sat on the porch and tilted her head.

She hadn't really thought this mission through, had she?


End file.
